New York's attorney general is investigating complaints that Apple mistreated customers of Asian descent at Gotham stores, demanding to see their passports, saying their English sucked and, worst of all, denying them precious, sweet iPads.

A source told Politico that Apple, worried about unauthorized iPad exports to China, had a brief policy of interrogating suspicious customers:

A person who had been informed of Apple's policy said the company — concerned that customers were purchasing multiple iPads for sale abroad — had briefly instituted a questionnaire for use in the course of iPad sales, aimed at blocking those illegal exports. The source said the policy is no longer in place, and [the attorney general's office] signaled that the investigation appears likely to be resolved routinely.

Happily, Apple's paranoiac control freakishness toward its own customers is now over, in this one very specific and isolated instance.